Sarah Morrison

Don’t let mega-constellation-building billionaires steal your night sky Satellites are wonders of modern technology that have improved all of our lives. But having more than a million of them in orbit could destroy our view of the heavens and seriously damage our planet

Elon Musk has already started plans to launch a million satellites.

Yes. A MILLION.

This is a colossally bad idea, and it's not too late to make your voice heard. I explain everything:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/ramp...

🔭 🧪

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.

The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇

We have a hidden column on the NASA Exoplanet Archive called 'Number of exomoons' and I AM SO READY TO BUST IT OUT WHEN NEEDED.

Federal Science Workforce Declines Sharply Under Trump The last year was marked by turmoil at science agencies and the administration’s stated desire to shrink the federal workforce.

Federal science workforce in 2025:

NSF down over 30%
USGS, NOAA, and NIH down 20%
DOE down 17%
NIST down 15%
NASA down 12%

By comparison, the total federal civilian workforce was down approximately 10% last year.

www.aip.org/fyi/federal-...

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

Chart of Physics doctorates earned from 1978 to 2024, with a steady increase in the number of women but overarching trends closely tracking the number of men earning PhDs

Chart showing doctorates earned in astronomy from 1978 to 2024 with women making steady gains and closing in on parity, and an overarching increase in number of PhDs earned linked to the increasing numbers of women entering the field.

The AIP stats team has released its latest data of physics & astronomy PhD trends, with breakdown by gender. What is extraordinary to me is how clearly the overall trends exhibit an important gender dimension, and that that story is quite different between physics and astronomy.

And people outside of academia don't appreciate fully, I think, how the people whose names are in these documents are *still* important people with a lot of power in the field to determine whether people at other schools get promotions and tenure

Like I'm taking a risk every time I post about this

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

Beyond Plastics - Working To End Single-Use Plastic Pollution

If you want to learn more and are local to the Ozarks: www.beyondplasticsozarks.org

And nationwide: www.beyondplastics.org

Microplastics in our environment In this episode, Kelly speaks with Springfield Plateau Master Naturalist Gwen Morrison about the growing concerns around microplastics.

Very timely and important- thinking about the microplastics we produce and consume. Also very proud of my mother for her insights in this interview! www.ksmu.org/show/growing...

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

MUST READ thread before Monday night's forecasted G4 / SEVERE geomagnetic storm. Auroras could be seen as far south as the U.S.-Mexico border at times. Widespread mid-latitude displays are possible. Here's what you need to know to have a successful aurora chase tonight! 🧵

#heliophysics #aurora

An impressive number of graduate applications this year used the phrase “curiosity-driven approach” 🤔

data shows everyone thinks the US is losing ground except republicans, who now think the US is gaining ground, compared to 2022 and 2023

Compare the data about how US institutions are ranking globally vs how Republican voters think things are going with American scientific achievements
www.pewresearch.org/science/2026...

Two large eyes cartoon characters. One states that they asked Santa for a research grant. The other skeptically asks whether the first actually believes in research grants. Source: https://theupturnedmicroscope.com

I've tried and failed a couple times to write a post explaining how serious this would be. NCAR is globally essential to our climate change response. This can't just be replaced. Every scientist in the world will be doing climate research with one hand tied behind their back for at least a decade

This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands

And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is

It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.

Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.

Lowell Observatory slashes research funding in the midst of financial struggle Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.

Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.

🚨 NASA scientists warn: critical equipment at Goddard Space Flight Center could be discarded during the shutdown, jeopardizing decades of Earth & space science missions.

📢 Act now: agu.quorum.us/campaign/146...

#sciencepolicy #saveNASA

"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk

Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’ From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...

Great article from @virginiagewin.bsky.social showing that across the Federal science ecosystem, research that benefits the American public is being delayed or completely halted, and remaining programs are being consolidated under close partisan political control. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️

Glad to see this story covered by the press. I've heard from colleagues that Goddard labs are being moved/closed during the government shutdown while employees are unable to receive notification/e-mail/warnings. There's fear that they'll return after the shutdown & labs will be gone. 🔭

Some charts for those who don't know the extent of the US public (and private) investment in research (particularly in biomedical research) compared to other countries and institutions. The destruction of the US' scientific institutions has global implications.

Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending' A poll from the journal Nature found that 75% of researchers in the U.S. are considering leaving the country. That includes a man who’s been dubbed the "Mozart of Math." Stephanie Sy examines what’s b...

The US funds the bulk of biomedical research globally by far. It's not like other countries can simply take up the slack. The more likely: people leave research, new people don't become researchers. There is no happy ending. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.

I've received an 'exclusive' invite to try Nature's new 'research assistant', which will burn down a forest to provide a 'summary of the paper' I'm reading and I have SUCH exciting news for them, that's called an 'abstract' and the actual authors already wrote it for me, no forest-burning required.

4,000 gone: Inside NASA’s brain drain In exclusive interviews, ex-NASA scientists speak out on the impact of the agency's mass departures.

"The secret sauce has been poured down the drain," says David Draper, former Deputy Chief Scientist of NASA, over the recent firing or departure of 1000s of NASA employees, which will be catastrophic for the legacy of the US🇺🇸😖🚀

www.planetary.org/articles/400...

h/t @floragraham.bsky.social 🧪